The Coalition of Partnership for Advocacy and Family Health (CPAFH) has kicked against the decrease in the 2021 budget allocation to the health sector in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria.

Leader of CPAFH, Prof. Sani Garko, stated this when the coalition visited the Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Mohammed-Baloni.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had presented N237bn budget to the Kaduna State House of Assembly, noting that 63 percent of the budget, subject to approval, will be devoted to health, education, and infrastructure.

Garko, a Professor of Internal Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist, who commended the state for the inclusion of the coalition in the 2021 budget process, said the group was concerned over the cut in the health sector’s allocation.

‘A cursory look at the 2021 budget shows that N35bn was proposed for health in 2021; the overall 2021 budget has risen to N237bn from N223bn in 2020 and the proposed allocation to the health sector is N4bn less than the N39bn budget in the revised 2020’, he said.

‘This represents a 10.28 percent decrease when compared to last year’.

In her response, the commissioner said that despite the decrease in allocation to the sector, there were additional funding mechanisms available.

Source: Punch

Photo source: Nasiru El-Rufai